Sailing in every season is the motto of the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club.

There are around 100 year-round Optimist Class sailors in Bermuda and another 200 who participate during the summer months.

Coach Carola Cooper and racing coach Luis Chiapparro said the youngsters not only learn the art of sailing well, but when they reach a higher level they enter international sailing regattas.

Mr. Chiapparro, who was the former Uruguay World Team coach, said the young skippers, like thousands of their contemporaries, began their learning in the Optimist dinghy.

?The Optimist is an introduction into a lifetime sport,? he said. ?It is a very small craft two metres and 40 centimetres long. It?s for kids and they can sail in the Optimist until December 31 of the year they become 15-years-old, although some kids may have to stop before then because they are too tall or too heavy.

It?s a very easy boat to sail and to learn in and there are more than 300,000 Optimist dinghies around the world, in which about 160,000 kids learn how to sail annually.?

Ms Cooper encouraged the public to get involved with sailing and stressed that being a member of the RHADC was not a requirement for participation.

The programme is open to everyone and is designed for beginning and advanced skippers.

?Generally we start taking kids from eight, but we have had them as young as six if they show a keen interest and they can swim,? said Ms Cooper who began sailing at the age of ten.

?And then we go right up and we have other boats for the older kids and the 16-plus can sail as well. That is a 420, which is a two man boat.

?For older people lessons are carried out on a J/24 in private or group lessons.

?The kids who are just learning to sail come once a week and the more dedicated kids who are in the racing programme attend three to four times a week. In the summer they come for the whole day everyday.?

Mr. Chiapparro said once youngsters enter the racing programme with him, training becomes more intense.

?They have these big goals and for us that means getting to the Worlds (Championships) and the only way to get there is to practice even more,? he said.

?So we give them the chance to have more hours in the water and that is why the advanced group comes three to four times a week. On school days they come for four to five hours, Saturdays for five hours, and Sundays they go out racing.?

During the summer months the youngsters participate in inter-club competitions and throughout the winter the Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association (BODA) organises Sunday racing events.

Participating in these events are the Sandys Boat Club, the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and the RHADC.

?They (BODA) also organise bigger regattas like the Gold Cup and the Bermuda Nationals and one, which is sponsored by XL,? said Mr. Chiapparro.

The RHADC try to take the young skippers away for international regattas about four times a year.

?One trip is to Miami at Christmas time to the Orange Bowl Regatta, which Bermuda has participated in for years,? said Ms Cooper.

?We also go to the Caribbean Championships in June, which is in St. Thomas and then we try to pick two others in the summer, but it depends on where they are and whether it is an ideal location.?

Mr. Chiapparro added that last year the group went to Chicago for the US Nationals.

?We went to the States after 12 months of practising and won the Nationals in their age groups and three or four of them got into the top ten,? he said.

?Two of our kids got to go to South America and they came in 12th at the age of 11, which is quite young.

?And also three or four qualified to go to the North Americas (Championships), but only two went. One of our 11-year-old sailors went to the North Americas and he finished tenth overall and there were almost 200 boats over there. That makes us feel very proud.

?We also had three go to the European Championships.?

He added that RHADC?s goal was to get the young skippers to a higher level and to make it onto the national team.

?We have done it,? he said, ?Now one of our goals is to see if one of them can make it into the World Championships, which is quite difficult. This year our goal is to get two or three of them in the top five.?

When asked how he led the youngsters to becoming world-class sailors, Mr. Chiapparro said: ?The secret of training is simple ? tell them everything you know. And not just tell them ? you must find a way to make them understand why we are telling them to do things this way or the other way.

?I really believe that once they understand the reason why, then they start doing it the proper way.

?Be very careful of how you explain it. You must remember that all the kids are not the same, so you must find different ways for different kids.

?One thing I always tell them is that if you go out in the boat for two hours you must go out and practice, so I?m always trying to make them practice rather than just float around.

?Some improve really fast and others don?t.?

Mr. Chiapparo added that respect had a lot to do with the teaching process.

?I always ask them what their goals are and then we keep on talking,? he said.

?And I remind them of what they told me of their goal and it their goal is to go to the Worlds then there are steps they must take.

?First of all you have to make it to the team, so what do you have to do? We try to get them to give us the answers of what they need to do and how can we help them.

?We try to make them understand that they are responsible for their own outcome. If they do well, then that is because they did well and if they don?t ? they are also responsible for that too.?

He said his aim was only to help them to achieve their goals.

?So I think that is also important for a coach not to put one?s own goals first,? he said, ?We are here to help them achieve their goals.?

Ms Cooper added that she believed the reason she and Mr. Chiapparro work so well together is because they share the same philosophy.

?We really try to treat the kids as individuals and work with each one according to what their needs and desires are,? she said. ?And that is the philosophy of running the sailing school.?

A few young skippers are obviously enjoying the programme.

Hailey Powell, who went to the European Championships last summer, said there were about 100 girls participating.

?And there were about 160 boys sailing and it was good,? she said.